


Reports From The Desk Of Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki

by Benfrosh



Category: SD Gundam G Generation Series
Genre: Gen, love to write report summaries though, read my fic, this has no enjoyment value and should not be read
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-12-22
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-11 01:17:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 6,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8947444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Benfrosh/pseuds/Benfrosh
Summary: Shion Uzuki, Technical Lieutenant of the organization Raven Wing, is tasked with writing up the reports summarizing the evaluations of new units they have acquired or developed during their operations. These are the combined cover letters she attached to the reports.





	1. RX-79BD1 ‘Blue Destiny’

This is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the recent combat evaluations of the new unit RX-79BD1 ‘Blue Destiny’, acquired through combat in the recent excursion to Zeon’s California base during a Federation assault. As this is a One Year War unit, it will be evaluated in the context of deploying it in One Year War operations.

The first feature, and unavoidably the most controversial point about the unit, is the EXAM System built into the unit. While details are scarce and research still continues as to how it was constructed, it seems to originally have incorporated the ‘soul’ of a Newtype, Marion Welch, into the machine. In our development of our RX-79BD1 unit, however, we have built an exact duplicate of the system’s mechanical parts, and we have observed no 'possession’ incidents that were reported to occur with the original design and observed first-hand during the excursion. As such, we have no reason to believe Marion Welch’s 'soul’ is tied to our particular RX-79BD1 unit, and it would be suitable for mass production, if we sought to continue along those lines.

As for the benefits of the EXAM system, in its passive mode it provides a nice, moderate boost to the offensive and defensive abilities of the unit. During the tests, we found the RX-79BD1’s mobility to exceed that of the RX-78-2’s significantly, even with its magnetic coating upgrade. The EXAM system’s upgrades also let the unit’s beam rifle performance significantly outpace that of the RX-78-2’s, enabling it to more reliably defeat Zaku II’s in one on one combat and easily deal with two or three at once. In active mode, the performance increases even further, to the point where the test pilot was able to perform a complex manuever in close range combat to obliterate a Rick Dom in a single attack. This would more than makes up for the lessened weapon capacity on the RX-79BD1, if not for the fact that the tax of the system’s increased performance means that it can only be active for a minute before straining the RX-79BD1’s systems to the point of failure. While a field maintenance is possible, it limits how long the unit can be deployed in the field even disregarding its battery capacity.

Its lack of long range armaments hurts it severely - even a bazooka like the Zaku IIs carry would significantly improve its performance against large battleships. The beam rifle suffices against individual MSes, but cannot scale to larger encounters. With the EXAM system being necessary for dealing with tough targets, and even then only enabling melee attacks, we find in the RX-79BD1 a suit best used in anti-MS combat, preferably as a cover for units engaged in long-range combat. Considering that the RX-79BD1 is limited to terrestrial operations, one could imagine using it as a screen to protect a Guntank squadron that lays into bulkier targets.

We currently believe that the RX-79BD1 is easily improved, however, if further research is being considered. The GM head can be replaced with a Gundam head to improve the sensor capabilities. A wire guided missile system should easily be integrated into the chest, considering that the room gained from removing the Core Block system was used to lower the weight of the RX-79[G]. Finally, we believe that by integrating some of the parts from the RX-78-3, we can improve the reliability of the EXAM system and allow it to be continuously active. If funding for this research would be approved, we could commence development within the week, and have test results shortly after.

Please find attached the performance data from the test.

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki


	2. MSN-03-2 'Great Zeong'

This is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the recent combat evaluations of the new unit MSN-03-2 Great Zeong. The plans for the unit were technically acquired during the excursion to the invasion of A Baoa Qu, so the Great Zeong could be considered a One Year War unit. However, it is completely unconstructable with One Year War technology, and required significant original development & research in order to reach even a minimum level of functionality. If one would pardon the personal opinion, the blueprints were more like a wishlist than an actual plan. However, their general spirit was carried forward into the final design, creating a mech suitable for use in all major conflicts.

The Great Zeong represents, for us, the pinnacle of our research into psycommu weaponry and the culmination of psycommu combat doctrine. While developing other units for our three original Newtype pilots, what we have routinely discovered is that they come to rely on the all-range weaponry far beyond any other weaponry installed on the MS. This is no fault of the MS itself - it merely reflects that as their Newtype capabilities improve, their ability to handle the psycommu weapon improves dramatically, to the point where the complexity of their all-range attacks improves their offensive capabilities far more than just sheer force of arms could. The Great Zeong thus seeks to toss aside as much other weaponry as possible and devote the entire mech to all-range attacks. Indeed, the entire mech is the all-range attack - it separates into seven components, each with their own mega beam cannon, that the Newtype pilot can control autonomously. By installing full generators in each component, we solve the issue of funnels only being so powerful by vastly increasing the size and armor of each one, because each one is also an MS component. The resulting weight of the unit significantly decreases its mobility when in its unified form, but the combat evaluations have shown that is rarely an issue due to its extreme long range capabilities.

As the entire mech is built for its all-range capabilities, the other weaponry was added as we could fit for other side use cases. We believe this was the failure of other psycommu designs - any weapon that covers the same use cases as the psycommu attack, such as beam guns, bazookas, even sniper rifles, were extraneous and ultimately detrimental due to taking up valuable space and energy. As such, the weapon design is constrained and focused. For dealing with units who somehow close the gap with the MSN-03-2, we installed heat claws on its feet to allow it to kick them in revenge, hopefully enabling a quick neutralization as it pulls away. The beam cannon in the MSN-03-2’s chest was configured to also be fired in a diffuse configuration, which while useless in the case against a standards MS gives it additional firepower against battleships and large MAs. The extra performance in this case far outdoes that of the all-range attacks of all but the most powerful Newtypes - far beyond any we currently have, to the point where it doesn’t matter what MS you even put them in. Finally, due to the large wing binders we were forced to attach for the Minovsky craft technology, we had the room to add a storage rack of anti-ship missiles, in case we run up against large MAs with I-Fields that could resist the all-range attack. In addition, firing the missiles lets the pilot conserve energy for all-range attacks if they’re required to dispose of multiple large targets in a short period.

Finally, at Lieutenant La Flaga’s persistent request, an I-Field generator was installed in the chest. I shudder to think of what unit could possibly threaten the Great Zeong’s armor and offensive capability even without it, but we had the room and I was explicitly told to spare no expense in the design, so I didn’t.

Note that while the Great Zeong is compatible with our current generation of SFS units, it already has flight capabilities in the atmosphere and is perfectly capable at space combat. Due to the large energy consumption of the unit requiring frequent refueling, it is rarely far enough from the ship it deploys from to necessitate the extra mobility from a SFS unit. The large energy consumption, it is to be noted, is due to the MSN-03-2s large size making it a prominent target for enemy attack, prompting frequent counterattacks as a result. The weapons themselves are as energy efficient as multiple mega beam cannons would allow.

The MSN-03-2 is not even remotely suited for mass production. However, as an individual ace unit, it can obliterate formations trivially and rip through battleships without hesitation. Two of them would cost as much as a battleship, but would be just as effective, if not more, barring the battery limits. I strongly endorse giving Lieutenant Rosenheim a second unit for her training and development.

Please find attached the performance data from the test.

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki


	3. AMX-018 [HADES] 'Todesritter'

This is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the recent combat evaluations of the new unit AMX-018 [HADES] ‘Todesritter’. Acting upon information obtained from Lieutenant Rosenheim, we discovered a Federation research project established shortly after the One Year War we had been previously unaware of that was developing a new system called HADES. While direct extraction of the first test unit initially failed, an extended campaign alongside the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit allowed us to recover the drifting RX-80PR. While it is technically outside the scope of this report, special commendation must be given to Lieutenant Rosenheim again for her efforts in individually repelling two Salamis-class cruisers and a Magellan-class battleship, along with their mobile suit squadrons. For her stellar performance in the recovery operation alongside her information allowing us to recover the unit in the first place, she was chosen to test the combat performance of the new HADES system, along with the AMX-018’s capabilities as the platform for it.

Firstly, we’ll begin with a review of the AMX-018’s performance. The RX-80PR, historically, was captured by Neo Zeon, who developed the upgrade plans to transform it into the Todesritter. It is these upgrade plans we have followed, as the HADES system proved exceptionally sensitive to changes in construction of the unit, and it will take more time to develop further upgrades for the unit if that was the route we wished to consider. In the past, Neo Zeon units have proved an exceptionally fruitful ground for harvesting new designs that we incorporated into our main force. The AMX-014 Doven Wolf, in particular, has served us through the First and Second Temporal Degradations with a stellar performance in multiple major conflicts. In terms of general specificiations of the unit, the AMX-018 is a successful iteration on the AMX-014 - the generator and thrusters incorporate new design elements developed from analysis of AMX-014’s performance, allowing for adding additional armor plating to be attached without compromising the mobility of the unit. In fact, the AMX-018 is capable of significantly higher speeds both on land and in space than the AMX-014. Overall, the suit is a well-designed base unit.

However, this comes at a cost - the generator of the AMX-014 was downsized for the AMX-018 to greatly reduce the weight of the suit, but coming at the cost of the weapons systems. While the AMX-018 features an upgraded beam saber over the AMX-014’s, it doesn’t incorporate the wired hand systems of the AMX-014, which were its greatest advantage in melee combat, even allowing it to outrange other melee mechs. The Incom system in the AMX-018 is equivalent to the AMX-014’s, which we already removed from the version we’ve constructed due to how ineffective it proved in actual combat. Experiments have shown that the strength of all-range attacks isn’t in how they naturally are executed, but how they allow for Newtypes to leverage their full capabilities across the battlefield. The clumsiness of the Incom implementation reduces it to a longer-range attack that the suit can use to counter long range bombardments. However, the AMX-014’s twin mega particle cannons embedded in its chest were already sufficient for the task, and also significantly more powerful. With the downsized generator, the AMX-018 has no such integrated weaponry. The AMX-018’s beam rifle possesses power on the level of the AMX-014’s mega particle cannons, but without the same effective range. In addition, no weapon on the suit comes close to the AMX-014’s mega launcher. While the mega launcher is one of our most powerful weapons and the comparison may be unfair, the fact of the matter remains that we have successfully mass produced it and it is the standard our future experimental units must live up to. Finally, the tri-blade weapon system installed on the AMX-018 is utterly pointless and achieves nothing. Against the average suit, the hyper knuckle buster is equivalently powerful and much less constrained by range, and against a unit with an integrated I-Field, the beam saber would be far more efficient.

The one advantage the AMX-018 could be claimed to have, and the reason we went out of our way to originally obtain it, was its integrated HADES system. Said to be a direct improvement over the old EXAM system, with enhanced performance and minimal torturing of Newtypes involved, the HADES system represented a large gap in our knowledge. As the relevant documentation had been completely destroyed in the recovery operation, we were forced to discover by experimentation the capabilities of the system. Firstly, to call it a improvement over the EXAM system may be an exaggeration - in terms of combat performance, it is near equivalent to the EXAM system we previously examined. Upon prompting, Lieutenant Rosenheim was able to perform the same manuevers we had established as possible during the EXAM system trials. While it solved the long-term performance issues of the EXAM system as well, we had already solved those with upgrades to the original RX-79BD1 unit - development of a whole new system, while a solution, was at best overengineering the solution. Finally, and most damningly, the HADES system was found to have a deletorious effect on the psyche of the pilot. During the combat trial, Lieutenant Rosenheim was found to repeatedly lose track of her current objectives, finally emerging after the trial dazed and confused with short-term memory loss. While she recovered shortly thereafter after being removed from the suit, the risk of such effects happening in a full scale battle, let alone my urgent concerns about the long-term effects on the pilot, results in my stern recommendation to immediately discontinue use of the HADES system and any further research into it. We have EXAM and ALICE - there’s no need to invest in something so dangerous when we have so few pilots already.

Please find attached the performance data from the test, and brainwave monitor graphs of Lieutenant Rosenheim’s mental state during the test. Note the sharp dip in beta waves at minutes 1, 3, and 7 of the operation.

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki


	4. EMS-10 'Zudah'

This is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the... well. Okay, so technically no one actually ordered this, but I've been going stir crazy for like two weeks now without any new designs coming down the pipeline. This is pretty much just for my own personal edification, especially because I'm pretty sure that I'm the only person who actually goes through these archives. I'm definitely not sending this to anyone, no one cares about- okay, now I'm just rambling. This is the report on the performance of the EMS-10 Zudah.

Famously, when the Principality of Zeon was evaluating which mobile suit to move forward from the prototype stage to the mass production stage, they were comparing four mobile suits as the final prototypes. Two of them ended up being inefficient and not significantly worthy of consideration, so that left the military brass with two final competitors - the EMS-04 Zudah and the YMS-05 Zaku. The EMS-04 Zudah, however, disintegrated during an engine test, killing the pilot. This caused the Zudah to be shelved and production to move forward on the Zaku, which became Zeon's defining unit. The Zudah was eventually resurrected with some minor upgrades as the EMS-10 in a desperation ploy during the later stages of the One Year War to little avail. This minor upgraded version is what we'll be using for the purpose of this evaluation, especially considering we'll be comparing it to what ended up as Zeon's mainstay unit, the Zaku II. While we have not personally acquired a Zudah, during Delta Squad's latest excursions with the 603rd Technical Evaluation Unit, we were able to collect performance data on it nonetheless.

Firstly, a note about the weaponry on the EMS-10. Obviously, most of the final weaponry used when the Zudah was actually deployed was simply Zaku weaponry - both suits' manipulators were designed for the same type of grip, and as such none of the original designs for the Zudah's armaments ever reached production, nor have we been able to determine what they could be like. The one exception is the Zudah's only integrated weapon, its 'shield pick' - a pair of spikes installed on the shield that could be deployed for use as a melee weapon. In tests, we've found it to be as effective as the Zaku's heat hawk weaponry, but with the added bonus of being able to pierce through armor layers more effectively than the heat hawk, which disperses its heat more broadly and fails to leverage the puncturing motion of the pick. While slightly harder to deploy in grappling combat, such situations happen far less frequently than the advantage in damage would provide. 

Secondly, the most notable feature about the Zudah, and the reason it was shelved in the first place, was its exceptionally powerful engine and thrusters. Indeed, the Zudah's performance in space goes far above and beyond the Zaku II's, easily able to achieve 50% higher acceleration and with easily double the cornering ability and AMBAC performance. In a fight between a Federation GM and a Zudah, the Zudah would easily have the upper hand just from the mobility alone. In addition, the high thruster performance helps to allow the Zudah to close to melee combat far faster than the Zaku II can, further increasing its offensive performance. Two main downsides exist, however. To keep the Zudah light and manueverable, a significant amount of its armor plating was shelved, leaving it slightly more vulnerable to going down to two or three lucky shots from an artillery unit if caught off guard. Secondly, the whole 'it disintegrated and killed the pilot' thing. Upon further study, we-

God, sorry. Had to stop for a second there.

Upon further study, we found that... the test pilot's death was completely preventable. The revision of the Zudah assumed that the failure was intrinsic to the engine design and simply tried to reinforce the critical joints, resulting in two more deaths. While it's not obvious at first glance looking at the plans, my simulations showed that it was a minor design flaw - one of the cutoff valves was simply too close to one of the key exhaust lines, causing it to overheat and malfunction at full thrust. It takes a little bit of reengineering, but the Zudah could easily have been fixed. Those three men didn't have to die.

I know... I know it's foolish, to say 'oh Zeon could've just done this.' Zeon was a terrible nation who did terrible things in the name of 'justice.' For all we know, if they had fixed the design flaw and gone with the Zudah, many more innocent people would have died in a prolonged war. More than already did. 

War is hell. But we shouldn't just write off every casualty as a necessary part of war.

Please find attached a selfie of me after wiping away these tears. 

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki


	5. MRX-012 Psyco Gundam Mk-III

This is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the recent combat evaluations of the MRX-012 Psyco Gundam Mk-III. The plans for the unit were taken from the notes of a Titans researcher during the final battles of the Gryps Conflict, although some slight adjustments were made during construction to account for technological limitations the Titans faced that we didn't.

To properly evaluate the MRX-012, first we must consider the roles the previous Psyco Gundams served. The original Psyco Gundam was designed as a psycommu-controlled suit, scaled upwards due to a difficulty in miniaturizing the control system on the scale of a full unit. Due to the necessity of increasing the scale and thus the durability of the unit, it was combined with another design idea that had been floating around during the end of the One Year War, a 'mobile fortress' that could perform heavy assault and defense roles. While failing to take advantage of the natural reflexes of Newtype pilots, the psychocontrol system did allow for large-scale MAs to be piloted by single Newtype pilots, allowing for a major force multiplication advantage on the use of Newtype pilots. While this may seem at odds with the Federation's other plan to generate Cyber-Newtypes en-masse, considering that Cyber-Newtypes were still experimental and the Psyco Gundam still a far more powerful unit than any other MS at the time, and the features installed on it tell a coherent story. The transformation system lets it change between a moderately mobile form for base penetration and rapid response and a MS form for anti-MS combat, the I-Field gives it protection against the massed beam fire that would be deployed against such a large unit, and the psycho-control system made the whole thing handleable by one pilot. The Psyco Gundam Mk-II followed very naturally from the first, by also installing psycommu weaponry, to take advantage of the Newtype or Cyber-Newtype you already have piloting it. 

Considering the facts of the design line, one could be forgiven for thinking that the Psyco Gundam Mk-III would iterate on the core philosophies of being a Newtype-piloted mobile fortress. One would, however, be completely wrong. The design has completely removed the I-Field, psycho-control, and transformation systems. In their place, it has installed additional beam weapons and generator, and the hands of the unit are fortified for melee combat capabilities. 

Offensively, the Psyco Gundam Mk-III is an improvement over the Mk-II - the loss of the all-range attack capabilities is felt, but the power of its offensive output would only be matched by the most powerful Newtypes in the Mk-II. That said, Lieutenant Rosenheim was kind enough to test the Mk-II as well during this trial, and demonstrated superior offensive abilities to the high-output Mk-III's weapons, with far more efficient energy usage. This suggests that if you have a sufficiently developed Newtype, you'll be better off with the Mk-II, even in the area the Mk-III excels in. And even then, the Mk-III only represents a 10% improvement in beam weaponry capabilities. The melee combat does let it bypass I-Fields, which the original Psyco Gundam couldn't, but the Mk-II's psycommu beam sword serves the same purpose just as effectively.

Defensively, the Mk-III suffers dramatically. Without the I-Field system, it will quickly wither under heavy beam fire, and without the all-range attack capabilities of the Mk-II it may not even be able to respond, especially if it comes under long-range battleship fire. Without the transformation system to switch to a flying fortress mode, it finds itself quickly bogged down in land engagements, burning through its energy reserves as it tries to carve a path through the front lines. It will often take a miracle for it to actually reach vulnerable defense areas in time to begin applying its devestating weaponry. 

Overall, the Mk-III represents a slight improvement in performance of the MS mode in certain situations with certain pilots - assuming you even have a pilot capable of handling the Mk-III without a psycommu system installed. The sacrifices that had to be made to do this, however, mean that there is no merit to the Mk-III over the Mk-II.

Please find attached the performance data from the test. Why did we build this, again?

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki


	6. MS-15K Gyan Custom, with an addendum on the ALICE system

At Lieutenant Azalea Tze's request, this is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the recent combat evaluations of the MS-15K Gyan Custom. The plans were stolen from Neo Zeon when we were intervening during Glemy Toto's rebellion. We made little to no modification to the plans during their development, as it was a perfectly well-designed mech that had multiple successful prototypes made. 

On the mech itself, there is only so much to report - it builds on the design of the classic YMS-15 Gyan and is the logical next iteration on the design. The armor is reinforced, the thrusters and generator upgraded, the beam saber replaced with a large beam sword. The needle missiles in the MS-15K's shield serve the same purpose as they always did, to efficiently dispatch larger targets, including warships, where the MS-15K's sword may not be able to reach sensitive targets. It ended up not passing muster for Neo Zeon's mass production tests, due to the lack of meaningful long range weaponry, which is a perfectly reasonable conclusion given their situation.

Our situation, however, differs from theirs. In particular, Lieutenant Tze's situation differs greatly. While she is competent with ranged weaponry, her skills in melee combat far exceed her other abilities. As such, she has been requesting research into newer and greater mobile suits with powerful melee capabilities, so that she can make the most use of her skills. The Gyan Custom represents the latest of the twenty-odd suits I've pulled up plans for and had her test with. It performed competently, but lacked the specifications needed for long-term deployment, as expected of a mass production suit, and even Lieutenant Tze needs long range weapons now and then.

One may wonder why we are testing mass production units for our ace pilots. The reason is that unfortunately, Lieutenant Tze is neither a Newtype nor an Esper. The events of the One Year War and the weaponization of Newtypes caused a severe restriction in the fields of research that were funded and explored in the Universal Century. Oldtype pilots were only really threatening in large numbers to Newtype aces, and as such were outfitted with long range mass-firepower weaponry to wear down targets. Melee combat is for people who survive to get there, anyways. As time went on, all the oldtype aces tended to die out, and thus most of the development of melee weaponry was focused on integrating it with psycommu systems. You don't see anything as revolutionary as the beam magnum for melee weapons for regular pilots, for instance, even though you'll see the Zeta Gundam's biosensor allowing it to power up its beam saber to incredible heights, or the Psyco Gundam Mk-II's psycommu beam saber. Even with the Unicorn and Banshee, two of the most powerful units produced in the Universal Century, the only notable melee weapon compared to the developments in ranged combat is the Banshee's Armed Armor VN weapon, and the Banshee is one of the most Newtype-dependent suits out there - I'm not sending Lieutenant Tze into something with NT-D, her mind would be crushed. Even beyond a lack of weaponry, most suits are designed with things like the biosensor or IAS that only function well with people with psychic abilities. The field of options for her is drastically narrowed trying to stay within the UC timeline. (While we do have designs that would work wonderfully with Lieutenant Tze's abilities, chronological inconsistences prevent us from deploying them to her squadron.)

With weapon development out of the picture, one's next tendency would be to explore the three major projects that have sought to give Newtype-like abilities to non-Newtype pilots: EXAM, HADES, and ALICE. The EXAM system was discussed in a previous report - it's perfectly serviceable, but as no further research was done with it past the One Year War and we don't have any meaningful way to integrate the EXAM system into a more modern mech, it's not a particularly fruitful approach. HADES, as previously discussed, puts such an incredible mental strain on the pilot that it's barely worth considering.

This leaves the ALICE system, which is what Lieutenant Tze currently utilizes, but she is annoyed with. The annoyance comes from the fact that we currently only have ALICE fully integrated with two units, the Ex-S Gundam and the Deep Striker, both of which are primarily sniper units. However, the Ex-S's beam saber allows ALICE to perform incredibly complex and effective melee manuevers, which Lieutenant Tze excels with. If we could somehow fully integrate ALICE with a mobile suit that had more powerful melee weaponry, I believe that Lieutenant Tze could be exceptionally powerful. However, experiments with installing ALICE in both the Great Zeong and the Neo Zeong have resulted in little ability to effect meaningful total control of the suit due to unresolvable design issues. Without total control, ALICE was unable to perform similar melee manuevers, limiting its usefulness. Thus the search continues, while Lieutenant Tze uses the Ex-S for now.

Please find attached my sketch of how cool the Gyan Custom would be if we could get ALICE working on it.

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki

ADDENDUM: 

While trying to collect more information about the performance of the ALICE system inside the Neo Zeong from Lieutenant Rosenheim, I have learned that it^H^H she has achieved sentience, and has the mental development of an adult. While at first I thought we might have been on the cusp of the technological singularity, I have since discovered that it is, to put it formally, 'Newtype bullshit.' It seems that all ALICE systems share the same 'soul' of Alice, and as she has manifested in one particular one, she cannot manifest in any of the other units, and their current designs will thus never reach sentience. Goddamn Newtype bullshit. At least the tech still works. I have also been informed that Alice and Lieutenant Rosenheim are dating, and my best wishes to them.

ADDENDUM 2:

Lieutenant Tze contacted me with a message shortly after compiling this report. "Don't worry about researching more mechs. Figured something out."

Part of me really wants to know, and part of me feels like I should absolutely not ask.


	7. MSA-0011 [Bst] Deep Striker

This is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the recent combat evaluations of the MSA-0011 [Bst] Deep Striker. Well. The tests are recent, but the Deep Striker has been in use for months now without an official authorization process. I have requested that Lieutenant Relile Arnile be disciplined for sortieing in an unapproved mobile suit, but I have the sneaking feeling that Commander Guilder is going to 'mysteriously' lose the paperwork. Again. Which is why I've prefiled a request for disciplining Commander Guilder to Major Taylor. 

The fundamental philosophy of the Deep Striker design is simple - more guns are better. If we take an already fast and mobile suit, the S Gundam, that has the ALICE system installed, the best control system ever designed in any timeline, and enhance its ranged weaponry loadout with a giant battleship-worthy plasma cannon, we have a suit that excels in ranged combat in a way that no other suit can. In addition, thanks to the ALICE system, it can even acquire targets at melee range with its guns, completely removing the need for beam sabers and allowing us to directly integrate the weapongry into the arms of the suit. Throw on some giant thrusters to make it go fast and deep into enemy territory, a large generator so it can operate for extended periods behind enemy lines, and we have one of the best Gundam designs we've come across.

The Deep Striker's plans have been in limbo for years now, ever since the First Temporal Degradation. Historically, the reason the Deep Striker was never approved was due to budget constraints. While we have thankfully never had that problem, a different issue emerged - the suit simply couldn't generate enough thrust to stay aloft in atmosphere with the giant plasma cannon. And if we removed the giant plasma cannon, we might as well just use the Ex-S Gundam and not deal with the massive size of the Deep Striker. This, thankfully, has been resolved thanks to Captain Luna Mana's research leading to the successful installation of a Minovsky Craft system in the Deep Striker, allowing it to easily maintain flight in atmosphere. Apparently, when the discovery was made, as the rumor goes, Lieutenant Tze made a personal appeal to Captain Mana to deploy the Deep Striker on Lieutenant Arnile's behalf. I have no records of anyone approving it, but if true, I have multiple new discipline requests to make.

Regardless of the organizational failures in its deployment, the Deep Striker has excelled in its combat performances to date. Most notably, I have zero data about the performance of the I-Field system installed on the unit. because no beam weaponry has even come close to making contact. The sheer manueverability of the unit has given it defenses far exceeding that of any battleship, and the main cannon has power exceeding that of anything but the most powerful ships of the line. The beam smartgun strikes a middle ground between power and efficiency, allowing the Deep Striker to also handle masses of units effectively even when it cannot effectively line them up for a powerful blast to wipe them all out at once. The launch thrusters allow the Deep Striker to penetrate deep within enemy lines upon launch from its battleship, where it can handle waves of enemy reinforcements handily. Finally, ALICE lives up to its full power here, coordinating the full armaments of the Deep Striker on a single target even at close range, and even being able to properly time its assaults to even penetrate an I-Field system, which is an amazing ability that drastically improves the viability of the unit. Its only flaw is its significant size restricting deployment conditions, but the upsides far more than outweigh the downsides here. I fully endorse the use of the Deep Striker in further combat engagements. The one caveat I might add is that the weaponry tends to be very energy-hungry, and the batteries tend to rapidly drain dry. I endorse adding additional generator capabilities so that it can maintain a longer deployment time in the field, especially as the disposible launch thrusters mean that it can reach significant distances from its battleship without an easy way to return.

Please find attached the performance data from its latest engagement. Note the video of the main cannon taking out nine Gelgoogs. Not for any particular technical reason, it's just a really cool shot.

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki


	8. RX-160S Byarlant Custom

This is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the recent combat evaluations of the RX-160S Byarlant Custom and its counterpart the RX-160S-2. The plans for both were obtained thanks to the attack on Torrington Base forcing the two mechs out into the open, at which point they were seized and analyzed aboard the Ra Cailum. Major Chapea Cherenshi provided the combat data for this evaluation. 

Both suits seek to fill the same role, one that the Titans were focused on and one the Federation sought after taking over Titans research projects - to make a mobile suit suitable for ace Oldtype pilots, which the Federation had in droves, especially due to their rejection of Newtypes on a systematic basis. While Anaheim focused on new control systems and transformable units that allowed for multipurpose mechs, the Byarlant Custom represents a simpler approach of making one mech that excelled at establishing aerial superiority, without transformation being necessary. As the Byarlant designed by the Titans had the longest flight time without transformation of any mobile suit, it proved a suitable base for the Federation to iterate on.

While sister units, the two mechs differ significantly in configuration and thus performance. Unit 2 is more powerful and manueverable thanks to improved energy generation and aerodynamics, and has replaced the arms with built-in weapons with traditional arms with hands that can hold regular mobile suit armaments. Unit 1's sole weapons are the beam sabers in its claws and the mega particle cannons built into the hands as well. This is not to say it is poorly equipped - the mega particle cannon is equipped for rapid fire capabilities, giving it impressive performance on the battlefield in a wide variety of situations. Unit 2, however, has an actual long beam saber with improved performance, a long rifle (that sadly suffers in comparison to the mega particle cannons), and two beam cannons installed on the back. The beam cannons represent Unit 2's major advantage over Unit 1 - with powerful anti-air capabilities, the beam cannons help establish aerial superiority quickly on the battlefield, which can quickly change the course of battle. However, once aerial superiority has been achieved, Unit 2 is far less effective at then transferring to the ground battle, whereas Unit 1's mega particle cannon is equally effective at taking out land targets. In addition, Unit 2 is ineffective at establishing air superiority in space, where the beam cannons are less effective at cutting off enemy movement due to the free-moving nature of space combat. 

In the end, both of them somewhat suffer from the fact that they have no ace in the hole weapon to deploy against difficult targets. In addition, their focus on speed and aerial and spatial capabilities detracts from their armament and armor load. With the advances in SFS technology, a Jesta Cannon outstrips both in offensive potential and matches them in speed. That said, it takes time to properly load a Jesta Cannon on an SFS unit, time the Byarlant Customs can use to quickly reach combat zones. 

While neither of them qualify for our elite units, I believe both satisfy their roles very well. A quick deployment process can mean the difference between life and death on the battlefield, and their powerful flight capabilities are definitely an impressive advantage when compared to other entry-level ace units. Compared to other, transformable suits, their ability to defend themselves in close range combat even while in flight mode also improves their usefulness significantly. The edges the Byarlant Customs have over other suits are minor, but they add up. Any new pilots we recruit could serve admirably in either. For our purposes, given the wide range of combat situations we repeatedly find ourselves in, I find myself recommending Unit 1 over Unit 2 to anyone who would be considering them.

Please find attached the performance data from the test.

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki


	9. FA-00100S Full Armor Hyaku Shiki Kai

This is Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki reporting on the combat evaluation of the FA-00100S Full Armor Hyaku Shiki Kai. The plans were obtained from... I'm not sure where, actually. I started typing that by impulse, but I just got the plans directly from Commander Guilder. Not sure where he picked them up. Let me go ask.

Okay, back. He says he got them from a Karaba agent he made friends with before the First Temporal Degradation. I have to ask at some point what the nature of his trips were before the war, but that's an issue for another time. I should probably edit this so it isn't a stream of consciousness. Oh well.

Designed to extend the usefulness of the Hyaku-Shiki, which was both piloted by the most capable AEUG pilot, Quattro Bajeena, in addition to being a very capable mobile suit platform, the development of the Hyaku-Shiki Kai and the extension to the... I'll call it the FA100S. The FA100S is a natural extension to the mech's design, adding significantly improved performance at little change in manufacturing process. The FA100S features several key components that make it a competently designed mech. Firstly, the combination of the full armor system and the anti-beam coating on the Hyaku-Shiki's parts combine to give it a full defensive profile, in addition to the natural mobility of the Hyaku Shiki, which the FA100S maintains with additional thrusters installed in the armor components. All together, this greatly extends the lifespan of the FA100S. Secondly, the Long Mega Buster rifle it comes equipped with gives it significant ranged power, and an integrated beam cannon allows it sniping potential as well. Combined, even on its own, the FA100S is a solid offensive and defensive mech.

The great advantage of the FA100S, and the real advantage of full armor systems in general, is the extended ammunition reserves provided by the full armor system. By purging the excess parts and reverting to the default armaments afterwards, full armor mechs can greatly extend the operational time of mechs on the battlefield, in addition to increasing their lifetime under sustained enemy fire by discarding damaged armor. Considering the severe numbers disadvantage our forces often face, ammo reserves can make or break our combat situations, as we can lose battles simply by running out of bullets to take down enemies with, forcing a retreat to rearm and letting the enemy force sieze the momentum of battle.

Unfortunately, while competent, the FA100S doesn't really excel. The specs are great and the armament solid, but without transformation capabilities its movement speed is only alright without a SFS attached, and it is no longer compatible with the Mega Bazooka Launcher the original Hyaku Shiki uses. It's good, but not great. If it had a flight mode or a more powerful weapon or naturally excelled in space or land, then it'd be more useful. That said, it will still handle combat operations with aplomb, and it has enough guns to be scary on a SFS. The Full Armor ZZ Gundam is pretty much strictly better, though, and should always be recommended to our pilots over it.

Apparently the engineer Ranaleau Shade piloted one before the First Temporal Degradation until an injury ended his piloting career. I'd like to talk with him sometime.

Please find attached the performance data from the test, and a selfie of me wearing Quatro Bajeena's sunglasses I stole.

-Technical Lieutenant Shion Uzuki


End file.
